Former area school employees sentenced in Highland County Common Pleas Court

Two former area school district employees were sentenced this month in a child endangering and assault case, including a former paraprofessional sentenced to prison for child endangering.

As previously reported, Roy Hansford, 65, of Hillsboro, and Marilyn Gross, 65, of Seaman, were indicted by a Highland County grand jury in November, with each charged with two counts of endangering children, a third-degree felony; and two counts of assault, a fourth-degree felony.

The charges are for two separate victims, with all four incidents alleged to have occurred “on or about the period of Aug. 1, 2023 through Sept. 1, 2024,” according to the indictment.

The endangering children charges alleged that Hansford and Gross “repeatedly administered unwarranted disciplinary measures” to both victims “when there is a substantial risk that such conduct, if continued, will seriously impair … the child’s mental health or development.”

During the same time period, Hansford and Gross were accused of “knowingly causing or attempting to cause physical harm” to both victims.” In both instances, it is alleged that Hansford and Gross “were caretakers” and that the victims were “functionally impaired.”

As previously reported by Fox 19 and The Highland County Press, Hansford was a paraprofessional with Hillsboro City Schools and Gross was a substitute van driver for area districts, including Bright Local Schools. It was alleged that “functionally impaired students [were] being physically abused” and that “Hansford was recorded by an aide in training threatening to hit students with a fly swatter.”

Hansford, who pleaded guilty to the two endangering children charges March 6 and had the assault charges dismissed, was sentenced Thursday to 36 months in prison in front of a nearly packed courtroom.

As noted by Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, the 36-month sentence was recommended in the plea agreement, as each count carried a potential term of up to 36 months.

Prior to sentencing, Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss heard from a relative of the victims. Their representative that Hansford served as an aide for the victims before reports of his alleged behavior toward the victims came to light.

“Roy, at some point, had decided to punish, bully and specifically hit [the victims] with a fly swatter while they were in transit, presumably buckled in their seats,” the victims’ representative said of the allegations.

The representative said Thursday that the victims have suffered “far-reaching repercussions” from the alleged acts.

“How can we hope [the victims] will ever trust again? Because we can tell you, we certainly don’t,” the representative said. “Roy, you should be ashamed of yourself and the detrimental role you played.”

Hansford’s attorney, Scott Evans, said that Hansford had an “unremarkable” criminal history and asked Coss to accept the plea agreement of 36 months “with an eye toward judicial release in six months.

“Roy’s demonstrated genuine remorse,” Evans said. “He’s had the support of family, community, friends, his faith and his church. Roy’s submitted approximately 11 letters in support that I’ve reviewed individually that are all genuine.”

Hansford also addressed the court.

“I made a very bad decision,” he said. “I’m very sorry for that, and I’ve asked God to forgive me for that. I hope the families forgive me for everything I’ve done, too. It was a terrible decision. There’s no way I could take it back. I wish I could, but I’m very sorry for what has happened.”

The judge pointed out that a person’s background “is taken into consideration, but the act is what has to be paramount” in sentencing.

“In this case, you have abused children, and very vulnerable children,” Coss said. “I know that you’ve expressed a lot of remorse, but I can tell you this. When I read the presentence report, a couple things stood out, and [the victims’ representative] quoted those. When you were talking with the aide, you were more or less just laughing about it, and one of the things that I thought was extremely telling is you only strike those two [victims] because they can’t tell on you. That’s a terrible thing.

“You’ve referred to the fact that you’ve made a bad decision. That’s not totally correct. You made many bad decisions because this wasn’t a one-time deal. This was an ongoing thing.”

Coss added that “There has to be accountability because we cannot just let this go. These children are very vulnerable.

“You were entrusted with their care,” Coss told Hansford. “That’s why you were on the bus, to make sure they were cared for, not to swat them with a fly swatter. I appreciate the life that you’ve led and the things that you’ve done, but this kind of an act simply has to have some accountability.”

The judge proceeded to sentence Hansford to 18 months on each count, to run consecutively, for a total of 36 months in prison. Hansford had one day of jail time credit. Coss said he would “consider” judicial release after six months but would not “promise” it.

Hansford’s codefendant, Marilyn Gross, pleaded guilty in February to the two assault charges, with the child endangering counts dismissed. She was sentenced earlier this month to community control, plus she was ordered to serve 20 days in jail and to pay a fine.

During Gross’s sentencing April 2, Highland County Assistant Prosecutor Adam King pointed out that Gross pleaded guilty before Hansford and agreed to testify against him at trial if needed, with Hansford eventually entering guilty pleas a few weeks later.

The same victim representative addressed the court at Gross’s sentencing and alleged that Gross “allowed these acts to go on, never speaking up, not defending disabled children, while storing the fly swatter in her van.”

Gross’s attorney, Lindsay Arway, said that Gross “acknowledges her role in this situation” and referred to her lack of criminal history. Arway said Gross is “no longer involved with the schools whatsoever.

“This is a very unlikely situation for Ms. Gross to find herself in in the future,” Arway told the judge.

When Gross addressed the court, she said that she was “very sorry that it happened, but I went several times to my supervisor and told him what was going on, and they didn’t do anything about it or put any cameras on the van.”

Coss responded that there is “no mention of that” in the investigation or presentence report.

“I have no evidence before me other than your statement that is now appearing in the record for the first time that you ever reported anything to anyone, and I can’t imagine that if you reported that that somebody didn’t take action,” Coss said.

Coss sentenced Gross to three years of community control and ordered her to pay a fine of $500 on each count. He also sentenced her to 20 days in the Highland County Jail.

“I was going to make it 10 [days], but after the comment you made, which I think is false, I decided that a little more accountability’s going to be required,” Coss said. “I think that’s important for punishment of not just what your acts are and your attitude, but also to send a message to other bus [drivers] that might think that it’s all right to abuse children when they’re in their care and they think they can get by with it, which is what was the case here.”

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